Panthers edge Wildcats for Class C championship

By Mike Cioffi

Saturday, November 3, 2012

COLONIE -- The Hoosick Falls High boys soccer team has advanced to the Section II Class C semifinals in each of the past three seasons, with the end result a loss. On Saturday, the seventh-seeded Panthers, appearing in the school's first sectional championship since 2002, erased the bad memories from the last three seasons en route to a thrilling 1-0 double overtime triumph over perennial power No. 5 Maple Hill at Colonie High.

"We all dreamed of it and we made it a reality," senior center forward Evan Phillips said. "We all believed in ourselves, we were doubted by a lot of people but those 25 kids on our team we knew we could do it and we went out and did it."

"We haven't gotten to the finals in a long, long time and to finally win, it feels great," added Tyler Carr, who buried the game-winning goal off a two-on-one play.

The game proved to be the last chance for seven Hoosick Falls seniors who have been searching for that elusive championship plaque since earning their first spot on the varsity roster three years ago. All seven played vital roles in the program's success the past four years, but three in particular helped produce the title-clinching golden goal on a windy and cold Saturday morning.

Seniors Cody Gaines and LaCroix set up Carr, the team's leading scorer with 13 goals, for the game-winning tally with 6:23 left in the second overtime.

"Chris and Tyler have been doing it all year and they did it again," Hoosick Falls coach Mike Young said of the duo. "He goes anonymous for a week then all the sudden he pops up in the biggest game of the year with the biggest goal of the year," Young added of Carr.

Gaines placed a perfect through ball up to LaCroix, who carried it around a pair of defenders with Carr alongside before firing a low shot which Maple Hill keeper Tom Miller stopped before allowing a rebound off the initial shot to squirt free to Carr, who then deposited the loose ball into an empty net from just a few yards out.

"I saw Cody had it, he fed me the ball and just like every game we played it across and Tyler put it home," LaCroix said of the goal.

"Without Chris' cross pass we wouldn't have gotten it," Carr said. "I thought it was going in when he kicked it."

"We kept under-hitting the ball all day, every ball we hit through we hit short. The one ball we hit over the top, Chris got a little momentum, and we always talk about Tyler making a little diagonal run when Chris is coming in and the rest is history," Young said of the lone goal.

The Panthers utilized an effective game plan on defense in the second half yielding a limited number of Maple Hill (12-7-1) opportunities, while the Wildcats employed a similar tactic to limit Hoosick's chances.

"It's a great feeling to hold them to no goals," LaCroix said. "We had a lot of faith in our defense to hold them and contain them as best we could."

The Panthers (15-5-0), who avenged a 1-0 setback to Maple Hill in the semis last year, claim the Class C crown after knocking off No. 2 Galway and Stillwater in the first two rounds as the No. 7 seed. They'll be making their first state tournament appearance in regionals nest weekend in Canton.

"It's an amazing experience, we're enjoying the ride, from here on out were going to enjoy ourselves look to win and hopefully get to the final four," Young, a second-year coach, said. "I think that would be a terrific goal for this team and I think if we work as hard as we did today that could happen."